Airline Detective [antikvár]

FOREWORD by Ian Fleming Öne day in the summer of 1955 I was sitting in the innermost sanctum of Scotland Yard-the priváté office of the head of the G.I.D.-admiring, with Sir Ronald Howe, somé forged five-pound notes and gossiping about crime in generál. It was a chance, purposeless visit. I had had to do With Ronnie Howe during my wartime years in Naval Intelligence and the friendship had continued. H Ronnie Howe said that he would be flying to Istanbul in a few days' time for the annual meeting of Interpol, why didn't I come? R-1 had imagined that these meetings of Interpol would be top secret affairs held in remote and heavily guarded police pfeeadquarters. In fact it transpired that they were much üke the meetings of other International organisations in smart hotels with banquets and speeches and open sessions during which the top policemen of the world read learned. papers from flower-banked podiums. Their main object was friendly contact and, if secrets were discussed, they would be eonfined to priváté luncheon parties or hotel bedrooms. Ronnie Howe said that the only other journalist who ever bothered to attend was Percy Hoskins of the Daily Express, and it crossed my mind that if he, by far the most briiliant crime réporter in England, thought these meetings worth while, so should I. I was at that time Foreign Manager of the Sunday Times and, thanks to the kind heart of Lord Kemsley, more or less able to write my own ticket so far as foreign assignments were concerned. So I fixed things up and in due course flew off on the same pláne as Ronnie Howe, Percy Hoskins 9